V 
THE 
AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
JULY,  1866. 
LOCAL  ANAESTHESIA  FROM  THE  COLD  OF  RAPID  EVAPO- 
RATION AND  SPRAY-PRODUCING  INSTRUMENTS,  FOR 
THE  "PULVERIZATION  OF  FLUIDS." 
By  the  Editor, 
The  medical  journals  of  recent  date  have  contained  several 
notices  of  the  production  of  local  anaesthesia  for  surgical  and 
other  purposes,  where  the  avoidance  of  pain  was  desirable.  Ac- 
cording to  Dr.  Page,  (Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Journal,  May  24, 
1866),  the  possible  use  of  cold  for  the  production  of  local  anaes- 
thesia was  first  announced  by  Dr.  James  Arnott,  of  England,  in 
November,  1847,  after  which  Mr.  Nunnelly,  Prof.  Simpson  and 
M.  Velpeau,  of  Paris,  (in  1850),  had  employed  it.  In  the 
United  States,  Dr.  J.  Mason  Warren  appears  to  have  applied  it 
in  removing  a  naevus  at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  in 
June,  1852,  and  subsequently  by  other  surgeons.  The  difficulty 
in  employing  cold,  in  a  practical  manner,  so  as  to  continue  and 
regulate  it,  rendered  this  method  ineligible  in  many  cases. 
In  1862,  Dr.  B.  W.  Richardson,  of  London,  was  attracted  to 
Dr.  Arnott's  use  of  cold,  and  he  commenced  experimenting  with 
the  view  of  getting  a  practical  means  of  producing  local  anaesthe- 
sia. As  early  as  1858,  M.  Girons  exhibited  before  the  Academy 
of  Medicine  at  Paris,  an  instrument  for  atomizing  fluids,  by 
means  of  which  the  escape  of  compressed  air  forced  a  fine  stream 
of  medicated  fluid  against  an  oblique  metal  plate  or  tube,  so  as 
to  convert  the  fluid  into  fine  spray.  After  this  Dr.  Bergson,  of 
Berlin,  suggested  the  little  instrument  known  as  the  Bergson 
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